The present application claims priority to Taiwan application No. 089109809, entitled xe2x80x9cA Modularized Universal Serial Bus Hub,xe2x80x9d filed on May 19, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a universal serial bus hub, and more particularly to a modularized universal serial bus hub.
2. Description of the Related Art
A universal serial bus hub is a standard peripheral interface for connecting a computer to different devices, such as digital telephone lines, monitors, modems, mice, printers, scanners, game controllers, keyboards, and so on. The universal serial bus hub can replace RS-232C serial ports, parallel ports, PS/2 interfaces, and game/MIDI ports.
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a prior art universal serial bus hub 10. The universal serial bus hub (USB hub) 10 is used for connecting a computer 13 to several peripheral devices. The USB hub 10 comprises a power port 12 for connecting to a power supply by a power cable 15, a computer port 14 connected to the computer 13 for transmitting data signals with the computer 13, and a plurality of device ports 16 for connecting to a plurality of peripheral devices. In FIG. 1, the USB hub 10 has five device ports 16 for connecting to peripheral devices. The power supply is used for supplying power to the USB hub 10 and some specific peripheral devices connected to the universal serial bus hub 10. When the peripheral device connected to the USB hub 10 is a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, the USB hub 10 supplies power to the peripheral device by the power supply.
Because the number of the device ports of the USB hub 10 is limited, the number of the peripheral device that can be connected to the USB hub 10 is limited. When the device ports are not enough, the user can serially connect another USB hub to the USB hub 10 to increase the number of the device ports to be connected.
Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram of connecting the USB hub 10 to another USB hub 18. The user uses a connection cable 20 to connect the USB hubs 10 and 18. One end of the connection cable 20 is connected to a predetermined device port 16 of the USB hub 10, and the other end of the connection cable 20 is connected to the computer port 22 of the USB hub 18. Therefore, the data signals of the computer 13 can transmit to the USB hub 18. The power port 24 of the USB hub 18 has to be connected to another power supply by another power cable for supplying power to the USB hub 18 and some specific peripheral devices connected to the USB hub 18.
If the total number of the device ports of the USB hubs 10 and 18 is still not enough, the user can serially connect another USB hub to the USB hub 18 to increase the number of the device ports.
In order to increase the number of the device ports, several USB hubs are serially connected to each other. However, when one more USB hub is connected, one more power cable for connecting to another power supply and one more connection cable for serially connecting two USB hubs are required. Therefore, when several USB hubs are serially connected together, several power cables and connection cables are easily tangled together. Furthermore, the serial connection of several USB hubs is space consuming.
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a modularized USB hub to solve the above-mentioned problems.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a modularized universal serial bus hub. The USB hub comprises a power unit, a basic unit, and at least one extension unit. The power unit comprises a power terminal for transmitting power signals, and a power port for connecting to a power supply. The basic unit comprises a computer port connected to a computer for transmitting data signals with the computer, a basic unit power terminal connected to the power terminal of the power unit for transmitting the power signals, and a basic unit signal terminal for transmitting the power and data signals. The extension unit comprises a first signal terminal connected to the basic unit signal terminal of the basic unit for transmitting the power and data signals with the basic unit, a second signal terminal for transmitting the power and data signals, and at least one device port for connecting to at least one peripheral device. Each of the mentioned units has a modularized housing and can be mechanically connected to each other.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the modularized USB hub according to the present invention is combined by modules so as to increase the number of device port by adding more modules.